Dickov’s praise for ‘excellent’ Taylor
Date published: 03 May 2011
HELLO SAILOR . . . three fans are riding the crest of a wave at Athletic’s last away game of the season.
ATHLETIC manager Paul Dickov paid tribute to Chris Taylor after his twin strike saw off Swindon Town.
The winger bagged a pair of terrific goals to hand the injury-ravaged visitors to the County Ground three npower League One points.
It left new Robins caretaker boss Paul Bodin with nothing to show for his first game in charge.
But with only one defeat in the last seven, Dickov saw plenty of hope for the future in his side — five of whom, named in the starting line-up, are still teenagers.
“Chris has been excellent since I have been here,” said Dickov of his captain and 11-goal top scorer. “That is him into double figures now.
“They were two great goals and as a 24-year-old, he has got a lot of games under his belt and is an experienced lad.
“I still believe there is more to come from him. He is a good finisher and technically he is very good.
“He has a great attitude and I love having him here. At the minute he is loving being here as well.
“It was a very young side and I am delighted with all of them.
“Any time you come away from home and keep a clean sheet is excellent.
“We spoke before the game about letting the season fizzle out. With it being Swindon’s last home game, we knew that with them being down, and especially under Paul Bodin, they would relax and come out and play football.
“I thought with and without the ball, until we went 2-0 up we were excellent.
“I have had a bit of a go at the players because we went sloppy and our team shape went a little bit after we scored our second goal.
“But in saying that, to come away from home and get three points is excellent.”
Ryan Burns started on the right wing to make his first-team debut for Athletic, while Phil McGrath did likewise as a late substitute in a youthful line-up.
“Little Burnsey deserves it as he worked ever so hard and he has been excellent for the youth team and the reserves,” Dickov added.
“I took him off because his calves seized up, but with him and Carl Winchester, James Tarkowski and Phil McGrath we have players for the future.”
Athletic’s victory was assured in no small part to the efforts of Dean Brill, who produced some terrific second-half stops to prevent Swindon from breaching his goal.
“Dean has made two excellent saves and we have talked before about setting standards,” Dickov said. “If it is the second-last game of the season, you have to set standards and carry it out for 90 minutes.
“But it is hard to be critical of them because there were a lot of young boys out there and they gave it their all.”
Latics’ next game: Saturday — MK Dons (home), npower League One
